Proverbs 18:10  “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”

It was Sunday after the morning services on top of the mountain in Saint Marc, Haiti.  So that my husband could rest and prepare for the evening service, I decided to drive the Tahoe into town with the kids to get lunch.  We lived about two hours from the church at that time, so we always stayed at the church between services, then rode home after the evening service.

I loaded my small children in the Tahoe along with another girl who often helped me, and we headed down the mountain.  As we began the descent, the brakes locked and so did the steering wheel.  Now, I was not frantic or panicked at all, but I was aware of my mind going through every file in my brain, trying  to find the one marked, “What to do when your brakes lock as you’re going down a steep mountain side in Haiti.”  Unfortunately, the file just was not there. I tried to stand up on the brake…it would not give. 

Down the mountain ahead of us were many people in the road: children playing, sitting adults playing dominoes, animals…I tried to push the horn to warn them…the horn would not work.  All the while, my brain was still searching mental files when it fell upon Proverbs 18:10: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower:  the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”  As we helplessly careened down this mountain side, I opened my mouth and began calling on the name of Jesus (It’s a shelter in the time of storm).  As I called, no, yelled out his name, “JESUS, JEEESSUUUUUS, JEEEEEESSSSSSSUUUUUUUS” ( my BJ joined in), I was speedily approaching where all the people were.  They then saw the Tahoe and scattered; all except one 10 year old boy on a stubborn donkey.  I could see him fighting with the donkey to get it out of the road, but to no avail.  Right as I yelled the last “Jesus”  I hit that donkey head-on, killing it on impact and sending the boy flying into the air, landing on the hood of the Tahoe and crumpling to the road as we continued our descent. Looking back on it now, hitting the donkey slowed our descent.

Maybe 50 yards from that spot, the road dead-ended into an intersecting road, and across the street was a rushing river and a cement block house.  If we were to avoid plunging into the river, I would have to somehow get the steering wheel to turn so that I could make this extremely sharp 90 degree left.  I stood, bringing all my strength into the steering wheel, and was able to turn the car 45 degrees to the left, avoiding the river and hitting the wall of the house and coming to an abrupt stop.

Immediately, I checked all my babies to see that they were okay, and then attempted to run back up to check on the boy, when an old man grabbed the kids and me and hid us in his house from the gathering mob.  The boy walked away with just a few scrapes and a sprung arm.  My daughter had a slightly split lip and the teen girl had a band-aid size scratch.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.